Onboarding overview
Take your integration live.
Use this guide to develop and launch an integration using Stripe Issuing (in the US, EU, or UK) or Treasury (US only). To successfully go live, your offering must be a business we support, and you must integrate systems and establish business processes.
Before you go live, you must:
- Get your use case approved: Submit information pertaining to your use case, familiarise yourself with the compliance requirements, and explore testing environments.
- Obtain live mode access: Build in the production environment, manage the necessary operational responsibilities, and complete the required compliance tasks.
- Get ready to launch your BaaS offering: Test the programme out with your employees using real funds.
Create cards for your own business, employees or contractors.
Complexity: ●●○○○
Example segments: Online travel agencies (OTA), Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) businesses, and marketplaces.
Milestone 1: Get your use case approved
Start by submitting an intake form that includes a high-level overview of what you’re looking to use Issuing for. If you’re a funded business with a dedicated team of developers, or simply working with a single developer, include those details in the form.
After you submit the form, our team will contact you within 5 days to let you know if your use case is a good fit. We also let you know if we think your desired product or products don’t serve your use case well. During the call, an assigned Stripe account representative asks you more about your use case and motivation as part of our supportability assessment. We also advise you on best practices and how to build a compelling financial services offering.
Following the call, we’ll inform you whether we can support your business within 5 business days (certain use cases can take longer). While you wait, you can build a test integration in a sandbox environment to explore the product’s capabilities, and familiarise yourself with our compliance requirements. If we deem your use case supportable, your account representative provides you with any necessary agreements, and once signed, configures your programme.
Milestone 2: Obtain live access
To obtain live mode access, you must complete the required compliance tasks. In parallel, we recommend you build your integration in a production environment and operationalise required processes.
Build your integration
At any time, you can explore an Issuing integration in a sandbox environment using the Dashboard. You can also get started by using our APIs and step-by-step integration guide. After you sign the agreement, Stripe configures your programme. In this mode, we restrict your capabilities to your specific use case. After you receive bank partner approval, you can begin to test your offering live with real funds (your own employees).
| Sandbox | Live | |
|---|---|---|
| Usage limits | With no permissions necessary, explore a broad set of platform use cases using the Dashboard or Issuing API | Limited to what you’re approved for |
| Immediate access | Yes | No, you’re granted access after you receive bank partner approval |
| Use real funds | No | Yes |
Manage operational responsibilities
Prior to go-live, you need to take care of various operational responsibilities:
- Cardholder experience: Understand what types of employee enquiries you need to handle and equip the relevant team with the appropriate information and tools.
- Compliance management: Set up the necessary compliance processes outlined in the compliance section.
- Physical cards: If your use case necessitates physical cards, we recommend using standard cards.
- Mobile wallets: If your use case necessitates Apple Pay, review the steps required for approval.
Typically, B2B Payments use cases don’t involve publishing public-facing material. That said, if you plan to publish any public-facing material related to your use of Stripe Issuing, you need to complete a set of compliance tasks. To help in this process, Stripe provides a workflow tool to manage compliance submissions and feedback as well as to help you stay organised.
Implement all requirements for a public launch
You must submit screenshots of your marketing, onboarding, and account servicing flows using the compliance intake form to demonstrate compliance. Before you build user-facing marketing, onboarding, and account servicing pages, review the following content guidelines:
- Unfair and Deceptive Acts or Practices (UDAP): Keep your advertising clear and honest.
- Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing (CAN-SPAM): Comply with commercial email messaging.
- Messaging and marketing: Use the right terms to accurately reflect the account structure and benefits.
- Prohibition on international marketing: Limit to US-based merchants.
- Required disclosures: Appropriately disclose fees and required identifying information.
Get approved to launch to the public
After you submit your screenshots, Stripe reviews and approves within two weeks or requests additional revisions. If there are any adjustments that need to be made to your submissions, we let you know, so that you can resubmit with the needed adjustments.
Milestone 3: Get ready to launch your BaaS offering
Now you’re ready to request your first virtual or physical card. Using real funds, test the programme out by getting designated employees to complete initial transactions.
Operationalise ongoing activities to remain compliant
Once live, you need to dedicate resources to ongoing operational requirements:
- Marketing reviews: Learn how to submit new marketing material or user interfaces for approval.
- Lost or stolen cards: Allow customers to report lost or stolen cards so you can cancel them immediately and (optionally) request replacements.
- Recordkeeping: Record all marketing materials, customer data, and regulatory receipts, and disclosures you make for at least 5 years.